Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Universe
by Jazza-44
Summary: The Master wants Jack's half Time Lord wife; so he went back in time and messed up part of Jack's timeline in order to break him and take her. Torchwood team has been led astray and it's Jack's future wife that has to travel back and set them all right again before The Master's plan is enacted in her time…
1. Hide Her

The Master watched Mariah Harkness running through London with her darling Captain Jack, Martha Jones and The Doctor. CCTV was genius. Martha was calling her brother, and he was listening; waiting for the right moment to intercept.

"_Leo! Thank God. Leo, you've gotta listen to me. Where are you?" _

"_I'm in Brighton. Yeah we came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on telly?"_

"_Leo, listen to me, don't go home, I'm telling you, don't phone mum, or dad, or Tish, you've gotta hide."_

"_Shut up."_

"_On my life, you've gotta trust me. Go to Boxer's, stay with him, don't tell anyone, just hide."_

"Ooh, nice little game of hide and seek, I love that!" The Master smirked to himself. "But I'll find you, Martha Jones. Been a long time since we saw each other, must be, what? One hundred trillion years?"

"_Let them go, Saxon! Do you hear me?! Let them go!"_ Martha yelled into her phone.

The Doctor took the phone from Martha. _"I'm here."_

The Master's eyes widened and he snatched his phone from his pocket. "Doctor."

"_Master."_ The Doctor replied.

"I like it when you use my name."

"_You chose it…Psychiatrist's field day."_

"As you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?" The Master scoffed.

"_So Prime Minister, then."_ The Doctor made small talk with him.

"I know! It's good, isn't it?" The Master grinned to himself.

"_Who are those creatures? There's no such thing as the Toclafane, that__'__s just a made-up name, like the bogeyman." _The Doctor demanded.

"Do you remember all those fairy tales about the Toclafane when we were kids? Back home? Where is it, Doctor?"

"Gone."

"How can Gallifrey be gone?"

"_It burnt."_

"And the Time Lords?" The Master asked, stunned by the Doctors bluntness.

"_Dead. And the Daleks More or less. What happened to you?" _

"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human, so they would never find me, because I was so scared."

"_I know."_

"All of them?" The Master replied incredulously. "But, not you."

"_Which must mean I was the only one who could end it. And I tried I did, I tried everything." _

"What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilisations burning. Oh, tell me, how did that feel?"

"_Stop it!" _

"You must have been like God." The Master's eyes closed as he imagined the scene.

"_I've been alone ever since. But not anymore."_ He listened to the Doctor's voice and how it turned desperate_. "Don't you see? All we've got is each other."_

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

"_You could stop this, right now! We could leave this planet, we can fight across the constellations, if that's what you want. But not on Earth!" _The Doctor pleaded with him.

For a moment The Master considered, watching them on his laptop. "Too late."

"_Why d'you say that?"_

"The drumming. Can't you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. It never, ever stops, inside my head. The drumming, Doctor, the constant drumming."

"_I could help you, please let me help."_

"It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen!" The Master's voice lowered dangerously as he tapped the desk, his eyes closing. "Here come the drums…Here come the drums."

"_What have you done? Tell me how you've done this? What are those creatures? Tell me!"_

"Ooh look, you're on TV!" The Master smiled sadistically

"_Stop it! Answer me!"_ The Doctor's voice became harsh.

"No, really, you're on telly! You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So congratulations on that. Look, there you are!" The Master chuckled.

He saw them all look towards the television sets in a store window, listening to the news _report 'also identifies himself as The Captain. They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous.'_

"You're public enemies number one, two, three and four! Oh, and you can tell _handsome Jack_ that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he won't be getting any help from them. Now go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?"

"_He can see us!" _

"Ooh, you public menace! Better start running! Go on! Run!"

"He's got control of everything."

"_What do we do?" _

"_We've got nowhere to go."_ Jack looked in terror towards his beloved wife; the Master sneered.

"_Doctor, what do we do?" _

"Run, Doctor! Run for your life!" The Master commanded. "Oh, and you can also tell Jack to just _try_ and keep his darling half Time Lady safe…"

"_We run."_ The Doctor answered his companions

"I said, 'RUN'!" The Master yelled, and the Doctor obeyed…as the line went dead, he spoke again. "Oh, run…run Mariah Harkness…just try…I'll take you from handsome Jack…I'll take you for my own…

The Doctor, Martha, Jack and Angela watched as The Master taunted Martha's hand-cuffed family. Martha breathed in sharply. "Oh, my God!"

"Don't move." The Doctor warned.

"But-"

"Don't!"

"I'm gonna kill him!" Martha breathed.

"What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack suggested, Mariah placed a hand on his arm gently and shook her head as the Doctor turned to Jack.

"Now that sounds like Torchwood." The Doctor replied, eyes disapproving.

Jack shrugged and placed a hand over Mariah's. "Still a good plan."

"He's a Time Lord. Which makes him my responsibility." The Doctor reasoned. "I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him." He paused. "Aircraft Carrier Valiant."

"That's a UNIT ship, at 58.2 North, 10.02 East." Jack replied.

"How do we get on board?" Martha asked blankly.

"Does that thing work as a teleport?" the Doctor nodded towards Jack's vortex manipulator.

"Since you revamped it, yeah." Jack replied, letting go of Mariah's hand. "Coordinates set."

"Not you Mariah." The Doctor shook his head at her as she moved to grab onto the teleporter. "He wants you…you can't go up."

"If I don't and something happens to any of you, I'd never forgive myself." Mariah replied sternly. "I'm coming."

"Not the first time she's said that." Jack smirked and she glared at him momentarily then…they vanished.

They all groaned as they appeared on board the Valiant.

"That thing is rough!" Martha cried.

"Oh, I've had worse nights!" Jack replied as he cast a wicked grin at Mariah. "Agh! Welcome to the Valiant."

"It's dawn… Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?!" Martha said fearfully, looking out the window.

"A ship for the 21st century." Jack answered and looked to Mariah. Protecting the skies of Planet Earth."


	2. I'll Fix It

Martha teleported back to Earth and The Master's gaze now fell on Mariah, eyes filled with sadistic glee and lust. "Ah, the Captain's young wife…well, actually, you won't be his wife much longer…"

Jack clutched his skull…screaming…

Mariah knelt beside Jack, trying to soothe him. "What have you done to him?!" she screamed up at The Master.

"Ooh, you have no idea how sexy that look is. On your knees, but defiant." He smirked wickedly. "I've only gone back in time and rewritten his and your timelines. Oh, as a Time Lord…Lady, you'll remember everything, but…" he looked at a now silent Jack. "He won't remember you at all…not you face, not your voice…nothing."

"Why?" Mariah glared.

"I want a child…a _Time Lord child_." The Master snarled.

Mariah's eyes filled with tears. "Jack?" Her husband looked at her blankly. Her heart shattered. She pressed her lips gently to Jack's as she whispered, "I'll fix this, you'll see." As she turned back to The Master, Mariah set coordinates into her own Time-Jump device…standard issue with The Agency. "I will never bear your child."

"Oh, really?" The Master smirked vindictively.

Mariah smiled back at him. "Yeah." And she vanished.

Mariah landed in a darkened alley with a painful thud, smacking her head into the pavement. She groaned and looked at the date she'd set…it was the day before they'd captured her…the day before she met the Torchwood team… the day before she'd met Jack…


	3. Time and Place

"I don't understand they're literally right in front of us…but I can't see who, or what, this energy reading is coming from!" Tosh's frustrated voice was barely audible over the noise of the busy Cardiff Bay.

Jack growled in frustration. "Can't you tell what's interfering?"

"No, I…wait…there's a new energy signature over-riding our tracking capabilities…it's…no…it's gone!" Tosh stammered, flustered. "It was there and then it was gone! I don't –"

"Look out!" Owen yelled at the top of his lungs as the team was set upon by several Weevils.

"Forget it, Tosh!" Jack grinned. "We've got company!"

**...**

Mariah landed in a darkened alley with a painful thud, smacking her head into the pavement. She groaned and looked at the date she'd set…it was the day before they'd captured her…the day before she met the Torchwood team… the day before she'd met Jack…

She stood and rubbed the back of her head. She turned sharply on her heel as she heard the sound of snarling Weevils, shouting, and the sounds of fighting. She ran towards the end of the alley, stopping as she saw the team being set upon by about six Weevils. Smiling to herself, she ran out and joined the fight.

"Oh, I missed this!"

**...**

As the team began bagging and tagging the Weevils that had attacked them all, Jack turned to look at the mysterious woman who had jumped in and saved Owen's arse, quite literally! She was…totally beddable…and also a _big _liability. No one was meant to know about this alien world that Torchwood protected the rest of humanity from…

So there was only one thing to do… Retcon her. The tracking device Tosh had dropped when they were attacked started bleeping as she walked past it, dragging a Weevil over to where Ianto was dumping them in the back of the SUV. Jack picked it up as she helped Ianto life the last one into the back of the SUV; what it showed shocked and intrigued him. She was acclimatized to Earth's atmosphere…but she had _two hearts_…

He strode up behind her, pulling the stun gun from Ianto's belt as she turned to look at him. He looked at her apologetically as he stunned her and she fell, unconscious, to the ground. As his team began to question him, he held up the device in his hand…it was all they needed to see.

**...**

Mariah awoke in one of the Torchwood basement holding cells, freezing…and with an overwhelming need to use a toilet. She still had a dull ache in her head from where she'd landed heavily on the pavement. She'd have to ask The Doctor or Jack to help her fix her _Time-Jump _capabilities. But, right now, she really needed to talk to the old team and explain…and find the nearest loo!

She knew they were watching. Whether they were listening was an entirely different kettle of fish. Standing and looking through the glass of the door, she spoke to the air. "Would be great to talk to someone right now…and a trip to the loo would be nice too…"

There was a long, pregnant silence, and Mariah sighed, sitting down again. Perhaps she'd just have to wait for them to come down…could she hold it that long?

"Alright, talk." Owen's voice echoed through the intercom.

Mariah smirked. "Ah, people…Owen?"

"Yeah…wait, what?!" Owen's tone turned confused and weary.

"Hi," Mariah smiled and waved at the security camera watching her. "Would be _lovely _if I could see you too…"

There was another long silence, and then she heard the voice she'd been waiting for. "I'm sure."

"Jack!" she breathed, her eyes closing and she smiled, memories of him filling her mind before he brought her back to the present…well…her past, Jack's present…

"Captain Jack Harkness, now, who are _you_?" Jack's voice had lost none of its charm and she smirked again.

"Oh, right…" she nodded to herself, reminding herself of the time difference. "It hasn't happened yet."

"What hasn't?" Jack asked over the intercom, clearly curious.

"I can't say, exactly. Timelines…fixed points in time." Mariah frowned, trying to explain this was going to be hard. She could only say so much…the rest had to play out by itself.

"That's _incredibly _helpful." She heard the sarcastic smile in his voice…and a certain inflection she also recognised.

She tried again. "You know me… I'm a part of your future…all of your futures, a _big _part of certain individuals lives…" she hesitated, looking at the ring on her finger. Her own husband didn't know her…and her heart ached. "It's difficult…I've never had to try and explain something so complex without influencing past points in so many people's timelines…"

"Try," Jack replied calmly. "You'll find I can be a rather patient man."

Mariah sighed, "Only to a point, Jack Harkness."

There was another long silence, and then Jack responded again. "Okay, let's start small…prove that you know me. Tell me two things only _I _could possibly know."

Mariah frowned for a moment, before looking up at the camera again, smirking wickedly. "You used to be a poster boy, and were the first from your home-world to be signed up to the Time Agency…" she paused. "How's that?"

"Not bad…was hoping for something a _little _bit more _intimate_ if I'm honest." She could just imagine the cheeky look on Jack's face as he said that.

Well, far be it for her to turn down a challenge. "Intimate, eh?" she blushed ever so slightly as she continued, "Okay…you have a scar from a bite…on the inside of your right thigh…you got _that _during an _intimate_ act…an act you replicated for me some time after, though a little less painful, I'd wager."

"Okay…you know me…how do you know me?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Come down and I'll tell you Jack…" she paused, allowing him time to consider. "I'll also explain why I happen to have two hearts…I _know _Tosh picked that up…" she smirked. "It's kinda hard to miss with the scanners in this place." The silence that followed was most certainly _not _golden, and her nerves got the better of her. "Come and face me, Jack… Please? Talk to me, face to face…and I wasn't kidding, I really _do _need to pee…"

A soft chuckle followed. "Alright, hang tight…we're on our way."

"Excellent!" Mariah smiled brightly, it would be good to see the old team…Owen's sarcasm and Tosh's sweet temper had been sorely missed…oh, no, Mariah had mixed up her timelines again. It was so difficult when she was out of her own time, and the past always screwed up how her mind reasoned things out.

She'd just have to deal with it, and soon…otherwise vital information could be let slip about the team's potential futures…and _that _could never happen…

**...**

Jack led her back to her cell after allowing her to use their toilet. He'd managed to find out her name, her affiliation with The Doctor, and her half Time Lord status during the trips to and from the bathroom. But, now, the real questions would come out.

"Okay, the knowing of each of us aside… tell us who you are _and _why you're here." Owen gave her one of his cheeky smirks that badly masked his dangerously morbid curiosity.

Mariah looked at each of them nervously, remembering the first time she'd met them…her discomfort as they'd questioned her. And the team she knew wouldn't hurt her…but this wasn't that team. This version of the Torchwood team had never met her…would they believe her?

She had to take the chance. "I'm from a future in which mine and Jack's timelines were messed up by this…_really_ sick, perverted, evil, somewhat resurrected alien…he travelled back in time and got the guy the me in this part of my timeline is supposedly chasing…he's also a bad man…alien…anyway, I need your help to set things straight."

"Otherwise the guy in the future is going to…what exactly?" Owen asked sceptically.

"He calls himself _The Master_ and all you need to know about him for now is that he's _incredibly bad news _for planet Earth." Mariah continued, exasperated. "He's gotten a man, only ever known as the _Time Assassin_ to stop Jack from ever meeting me…I know it's barely anything to go on, but you're going to have to trust me on this!"

"It's weird, but," Gwen looked curiously from Mariah to Jack. "I kind of want to believe her."

"Like something we can't see is influencing us." Owen began to glare.

"That's the timelines trying to compensate for me knowing all of you when I haven't even met you yet… you know what that's doing to my head?! It feels like it's splitting in two!" Mariah knew she was becoming hysterical, but she couldn't help it. "Look, Jack, I'm going to be someone _very _important to you…and if that never happens, then 'The Master' will take everything he wants' starting with me and the Earth, and ending with the entire bloody universe! And I simply can't let that happen! I refuse to let our life slip away and lose you…" Mariah's voice faded away as she realised what she'd said. It was too much…she'd slipped.

"What do you…" Jack's voice quietened as his gaze fell upon the ring on her left hand. Mariah knew what he was thinking. There was only one reason he would give _anyone _the ring she now wore. "How?"

"Oh, sod it." Mariah gave up, there was no other way to explain it. A pulse of derageon energy left her and swept over the occupants of the room. They all froze for a second in shock.

"What…the hell…was that?!" Tosh exclaimed, her hand hovering over her heart.

"That was me…you can see from my _memories_ enough to know I'm not kidding around." Mariah sighed sadly, already knowing what she'd have to do later…

"But I thought you couldn't do that…" Ianto frowned at her.

"I showed you just enough to let you believe." Mariah half smiled, but it was false.

"And Jack?" Ianto continued.

She looked at Jack now, looking at her in shock and…awe? Her eyes went cold. "You've no idea how much it's killing me. My husband is _right there_…close enough to touch, to kiss; but it's not him. So close, and yet so very, _very _far." Mariah looked back to Ianto and the others. "And that's why I have to fix the timelines. I can't live without Jack…but when I left _my time,_ he just looked right through me…my own husband didn't know me. And that _killed _me."

Jack was looking at her strangely. Some inner war waging that she wasn't sure she wanted to know about. She soon found out however. He strode forward the two steps it took to get to her, took her face in his hands, and kissed her; wildly, passionately, pulling her into his arms in a way she recognised _oh-so _well…melting into his embrace. Forget the awkward silence interrupted by uncomfortable coughs…she had her husband back…

_Mariah sighed inwardly. 'For now…'_

**_..._**

**_Do tell me what you think my lovlies! I know it started off quite slow...and probably a bit aweful, but give me a chance, I'm sur ei can get you to enjoy it!_**

**_R&R darlings! ;D_**


	4. Find and Fix

"Okay," Jack said from the head of the table. "How do we find this…_Time Assassin_? And when we do…how do you plan of fixing the timelines?"

"Finding him is the easy part. He'll be hanging around the _'me' _of this time. Making sure I stay away from _you_." Mariah pointed at Jack. He nodded and she continued, "All I have to do is get him to see me twice…he'll follow me instead of past me."

"The we... what?" Owen shrugged as he haphazardly threw together a plan. "Catch him and kill him?"

"That would be ideal." Mariah nodded, slightly to herself. "That way he couldn't escape to an even earlier point in our timelines and screw them up further."

"And our timelines?" Jack asked sceptically.

"All we'd have to do then is get you and me to meet." Mariah smiled a small smile, knowing his next question.

"Yeah, slight problem." Jack raised a quizzical eyebrow in her direction.

"We've already met?" she sighed and smirked. "Yeah, all over it."

"Do tell then." Jack gestured for her to tell all she knew.

Mariah shook her head solemnly. "Sorry, Jack. That's the part of the plan you just _can't _know."

Jack narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, about to ask again but was interrupted by Tosh. "What exactly am I looking for, Mariah?"

"An off the scale spike in rift activity for a start…" Mariah frowned. "Why?"

"Because… I can't find anything." Tosh looked at her computer screen worriedly. "I backlogged five months looking for it and there's nothing."

"It should be there." Mariah's eyes widened, scared. "No…but why? Is it? No…yes! No…but it is! Oh, that's clever! Is it clever? Why is it clever? Well, because it's Zed-neutrino energy, that's why. Oh, you idiot, Mariah! May I?" she smiled at Tosh as she took over Torchwood's computer systems, the whole team watching on in discomfort; that was understandable, she had just been talking to herself as she tried to figure out how the _Time Assassin _ had been able to hide his entrance into this time-stream. "Thraneo readings…"

"Mariah," Jack began, standing very close behind her. "What are you doing?"

Mariah frowned momentarily at the present screen before a triumphant smile broke out across her face. "Ha! Got it!" she cried as a beeping sound filled the room and she pointed to several screens in turn, graphs and location grids seemingly jumping off the screens. "There! Do you see it? He came in in a rather unconventional way. You could say he used the _back door_. Come on! You _must _see it!"

"Is that… an energy reading from a time fracture?" Tosh began, her eyes widening with realisation. "Created when a time-dimension jump crosses fixed points in time using an unstable mix of residual Rift, Thraneo and Zed-Neutrino energies?"

"Oh, give the woman a medal!" Mariah beamed. "God, you are truly brilliant Toshiko! Yes, that is completely right! And you know what that means, don't you?!"

"It means that we wouldn't be able to detect him arriving." Tosh's face was blank.

"Why?" Gwen and Owen asked simultaneously, eyeing each other for a moment before looking back at Mariah and Tosh.

"Because, when unstable and incompatible energies mix with the rift," Tosh looked at them each in turn. "The readings come back as normal, or nothing, because the instruments and equipment we use to detect energies doesn't know what it's looking at, doesn't know what it's detecting because of the fluctuating nature of the Thraneo energy…so we don't get any readings, because the Thraneo energy cancels everything out…unless…"

"Oh, another medal!" Mariah grinned and hugged Tosh sideways as she began typing an equation into their energy detection software.

"But that's _really_ difficult…" Tosh frowned slightly.

"Not when you're me!" Mariah hit enter. "HA! There he is! Right in the middle of Cardiff Bay. He's still got residual Thraneo energy flowing off him like it was yesterday. Tsk, tsk, he's getting sloppy! Oh, look, and there's me. Two hearts, see?"

"Alright team." Gwen grabbed her gun and jacket. "Let's go get this twisted son of a bitch!"

**...**

Jack watched on warily from the shadows. He could see Mariah looking out towards a set of benches overlooking the bay, where he presumed the Mariah from his point in time was now sitting. He frowned as she began to back up a few paces, her hands gesturing for whoever was looking at her to come and get her. He ordered everyone into position as she spun around, grinning triumphantly, and sprinted towards where he and the team were concealed…and that was when he saw him.

A figure in black, ragged robes that dragged across the ground, surrounded in a dark mist. He seemed to go completely unnoticed by everyone else around him as he ran after Mariah, glowing eyes trained on her form only. Mariah blew past him like she was running for her life, the creature known as the _Time Assassin _hot on her tail.

"NOW!" Jack yelled as she turned to face the hooded, dark figure and it stopped dead.

Five beams of light, energy configurations to be precise, appeared and joined around the _Time Assassin_, forming a portable, syndicated capture and execution cell configured from extrapolator technology they'd scavenged a few years back. The energy 'bubble-shaped' cell around the _Time Assassin_ began to glow and then shrink in size, the prisoner still within…screaming. The cell glowed so bright the rest of the team had to look away, but not Mariah. She watched on as the cell broke down the electrical currents holding together the atoms that made up their prisoner. He evaporated, particles floating free of themselves, and the cell imploded, sending what appeared to be ink splatters everywhere…though apparently mostly at Mariah; well she was the epicentre of a metrological Time Crisis.

Jack saw Mariah breathe a sigh of relief as she fell back against a nearby wall, her head in her hands. They'd done it. They'd defeated the _Time Assassin_… but what now? How could she orchestrate their first meeting when he'd already met her…the _wrong _her… out of time and out of mind…

'_Out of mind.' _Mariah thought sadly as Jack sauntered over towards her, pulled her to her feet and , wiping the ink smudge on her cheek, kissed her again. _'That's how it'll work. When I'm out of mind…'_

**_..._**

**_So? Whataya think?!_**


	5. Time Warp

_The Master looked at Mariah for a moment before replying. "Oh, really?" The Master smirked vindictively. Mariah smiled back at him, seemingly knowing something he didn't. _

"_Yeah." Mariah smirked and she vanished. _

The Master's jaw dropped. His look of dismay was replaced by one of shock as Mariah reappeared, crouched beside Jack. She had bruised arms and a dark smudge across her cheek, but looked strong. She was holding Jack's hand, looking intently into his eyes, murmuring softly to him. The Master frowned, the Captain should have been in agony; his timeline should have begun unravelling by now… unless…

Mariah turned and smiled triumphantly, and The Master snarled. "NO!"

_~Mariah's Flashback~_

_Mariah looked one last time at the old team, still overjoyed that they'd beaten the Time Assassin and all survived. A tear trickled down Mariah's ink-smudged cheek as Jack looked back at her and she raised her hand in farewell. He shook his head at her and then looked at the glasses in his and each of his teams' hands… She smiled sadly as each of the team fell victim to the Retcon and sedative in their drinks. Jack was the last to be overcome. He fought it as he stumbled towards Mariah._

"_You can't go…you can't leave me…" Jack fought against the Retcon and sedative mix fiercely._

"_It's all as it should be now. What we did won't change, just your memory of the events. It'll be the same; I just won't be in them." Mariah explained, kneeling beside him as he slid down the wall. "You'll meet me the right way now…you get to fall in love with me all over again." She half laughed half cried as he cupped her cheek gently. "You have all that ahead of you…I have people waiting for me…I have you waiting for me…" Jack shook his head and said something unintelligible. Mariah smiled and pressed her lips to his sweetly. "I love you, Jack Harkness, now and forever…"_

_As Jack slipped into the realm of unconsciousness, Mariah reset the coordinates in her Time-Jump device…and vanished, travelling through time back to the moment she had left the Valiant._

_~End Flashback~_

Mariah smiled wickedly... _She _had won.

**...**

**Sorry it's so short...it's basically just a filler chapter.**

**Still, R&R darlings!**


	6. Back to the Future

Jack winced slightly as Mariah vanished, a slight pain in his head. But the pain stopped as quickly as it started, and his beloved Mariah reappeared, crouched beside him, looking at him with worry and hope. She was battered and bruised and had a dark smudge across her cheek, but when she smiled tentatively at him Jack knew she was fine. He looked down at their entwined fingers and nodded as she spoke softly to him.

"Do you remember who I am?" she asked hurriedly. "Where we met? What we've done?"

"Yes, Mariah," he nodded, thinking over what The Master had said about rewriting both their timelines. "You're my wife… and we're having a baby."

Mariah smiled, tears of joy filling her eyes as she nodded

Mariah turned and smiled triumphantly at the confused Time Lord, and The Master snarled. "NO!"

"Never underestimate me." Mariah snickered.

"I'll remember that. Guards!" The Master grinned. "Take them away. Have a little fun with the Captain…and make sure she can hear him scream."

"Yes, Sir!" the guards saluted him as they dragged Mariah and Jack away from each other.

"There are other ways of making you do what I want, Mrs. Harkness…_many _other ways." The Master then turned a deaf ear on her cries of rage and anguish.

**...**

Mariah sat, tied to a steel chair in a holding cell, Jack's screams of agony ringing in her ears. They were torturing him…and sending the sounds through a speaker for her to hear. She'd screamed his name until she was hoarse. Every now and then, Jack would tell her he could stand the pain, tell her not to give in, but then the screams were worse than before.

She couldn't stand to have Jack in pain anymore. "I want to talk…negotiate…with The Master…" she managed to choke out through gasping sobs.

Jack's screams stopped. There was naught but silence for what felt like hours. And then…the door to her holding cell opened.

**...**

**Again, sorry it's short! Next one will be a bit longer I hope!**


	7. The Deal is Struck

Mariah was escorted to the cage where Jack had been tortured. She held back a deadly snarl when she saw what they'd done to him…well, the result of it. There had to be Jack's weight in blood covering the walls and floor. His arms and legs were chained apart, his chin against his chest, breathing heavily.

"Open it…" she whispered softly. When the guards hesitated, she screamed at them. "OPEN IT! NOW!"

A soft _'tsk, tsk'_ was whispered behind her…The Master. He was close enough that she felt his breath tickle the back of her neck as her fingers wrapped around the bars of the cage door imprisoning her beloved husband…

"Now, now, my _darling _Mariah…" The Master's voice was soft, seductive, and mocking. "I can't just let you in there. The entire plan revolves around your pain…and _his_." Mariah turned sharply on her heel to face The Master, glaring daggers at him. "Ooh…if looks could kill!" he snickered. "I'm sure you wouldn't want Jack to see you so…_conflicted_."

Mariah snarled. "Let me see him."

"Hmm…" The Master tapped his chin, pretending to think, and then nodded to the guard still inside the cage. "I think…" the guard held an electrical device to Jack's skin and smiled as his captives' agonised screams filled the room. "Not…"

"Jack!" Mariah beat and tugged on the cage door but, try as she might, it would not budge. "Stop it! Stop it now!" She looked back to the Master in desperation. "Please, _stop_!"

The Master smiled, then pouted and nodded once again to the guard. Jack's screams ceased immediately. He looked at Mariah, leant against the cage, her fingers twined around the bars of the cage, her head resting against the cage. He moved to stand beside her, his stance non-threatening as tears finally began to fall from her eyes. "Now, it's up to you, you know?" he began and she looked up at him through wet eyelashes, spirit almost broken, and he smiled gently. "You can stop his pain, Mariah… all it takes…is one _little _word…"

He let her finish his train of thought, and knew what her answer would be as she looked once again at Jack and hung her head. When she looked back up at him, The Master saw the defeat in her eyes. She would do anything to spare her beloved pain… and he would do anything to get what he wanted.

With a heavy sigh, she finally stood straight and looked him dead in the eye. "Deal…"

"No…" Jack groaned, coughing and sputtering. "No…Mariah…you…you can't…"

She looked at the Master again. "You'll stop hurting him?" The Master made the _'cross my heart and hope to die'_ gesture and she nodded. "The deal is struck, Jack." She looked at Jack sadly before whispering. "Let me help him…please…"

The Master nodded and the guard let Mariah into the cage. A triumphant grin spread across his face as he watched her go to the aid of her _darling _Captain Jack once more… He had won!

**...**

**Slightly longer!**

**...please don't kill me! ;)**


	8. In The Time It Takes

Mariah had made a deal to save her beloved Jack, and now she had to honour her end of the bargain. Sleep with the Master in an attempt to give him a Time Lord Child. What he didn't know, however, was that Mariah was already pregnant with twins…Jack's twins; the foetus's in suspended animation until the danger was over. She grimaced at the memories of her times with The Master…

_~Flashback~_

_She watched him as he slunk towards her and she waited, unmoving, on the edge of his bed, sick to her stomach at the knowledge of what she was about to do._

"_So, my dear," The Master smiled at her kindly. "Shall we do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Mariah's face remained blank as, disgusted with herself and terrified, she slid back into the centre of the bed and lay down, eyes scrunched tightly shut as The Master began unbuttoning her clothes, fists clenched by her sides. He smiled as he leant down to kiss her neck, "Good girl…"_

_As she lay there and let him touch her, a strange thought crossed her mind. 'Is it considered rape if you consent to something you wouldn't do in any other circumstance? Consentual rape?'_

_Sometime during this thought, The Master had managed to remove her last item of clothing. As he began touching her, she noticed him frown. "Hmm…" he parted her slowly legs and she whimpered pitifully; why did he have to draw it out? "Not nearly wet enough…though, I suppose I can forgive you for that, the circumstances being what they are…" he looked up at her, eyes sparkling with wicked intent. "I guess this'll have to do then."_

_He grabbed her hips roughly, dragging her pelvis towards his own and thrusting deeply. The pain was excruciating. Mariah clamped her mouth shut and gritted her teeth together; it was the only way to stop herself crying out, and she would never give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd made her scream._

_Evidently, he didn't take long to finish; and when he did, he just left her there, abused and crying, on his bed. Eventually, Mariah had the courage to look down between her own legs and she cried harder. She was _bleeding_…_

_~End Flashback~_

Mariah shuddered as she remembered that first night, bile rising in her throat at the things he'd made her do since, always threatening Jack if she hesitated or tried to refuse. He knew her weak spot…her beloved husband. He was still in chains, but at least he wasn't being tortured anymore. She'd had enough of being used and abused though. Mariah had a plan. It was risky, granted. But it might just work; and he'd leave her alone for a while too.

She asked to be escorted to The Master's chambers. When she was let in, she found him reclining against his lounge and he smiled wickedly when he saw her.

"So, you're finally _coming to me_!" He feigned shock and she held back a growl.

"I have something to tell you." Mariah started softly, she'd learnt long ago not to anger him…he had a good right hook on him that was for damn sure!

"Oh, really?" The Master frowned, now she had him stumped.

"Yes." She could feel the twins she carried, Jack's twins, slipping out of suspended animation. "I'm…"

When she paused he leant forward slightly. "Go on…"

"I…I'm pregnant…" Mariah looked up at him shyly, well…mock shyly, but he seemed to be buying it at least.

"You are?!" The Master sprung to his feet and hugged her briefly.

"At least, I think I am…I wanted to check." Mariah looked down at the floor, hiding her look of relief.

"Well, we can soon find out, my dear."

**...**

Mariah lay very still as the terrified, on-board doctor performed her ultrasound. She could already see the foetus' outlines and, as the doctor focused more, that both twins had _one _heart. She breathed a sigh of relief that they wouldn't be completely Time Lord.

"You are most definitely pregnant Miss…with _twins_." The doctor finally stated, nodding at her and The Master in turn. "Congratulations!"

"Only one heart each though," The Master shrugged. "That'll be your human genes coming through. Still, they're of Time Lord Origin. And there's always next time."

The Master winked at Mariah, smiling sadistically as he left her there, alone…and she cried.

**...**

Mariah hurried. She'd been allowed to see Jack, but she wasn't allowed to stay with him long, and so she hurried. When she got to the room where Jack was being held, she found the door already open. As she looked inside, she found the guard meant to be outside the door helping Jack drink a glass of water. As she stepped into the room, Jack's gaze snapped up to lock with her own, pained but relieved. She looked from Jack to the water to the guard, a million questions in her eyes.

"The Master notified me you would be coming." Mariah nodded and stepped forward to take over from his water-giving duties. As he passed Mariah, the guard placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and whispered, "I am so sorry for what he has done to you…"

Mariah watched him go, shaking her head as she looked back at Jack. He wouldn't meet her eyes, and she could guess why. She'd let _him _touch her…but she'd only done it to keep _Jack _safe. Mariah knew he'd never see it that way though. So she decided to talk anyway.

"Jack…I haven't got long. You don't have to look at me, just listen." She lowered her voice. "You remember, before all this happened, I was going to go for an ultrasound…because I thought…well, you know." She paused, hoping he'd reply or at least look at her…he didn't. "The Master doesn't know it…but the twins I'm carrying…they're _ours _Jack! The two, tiny, _perfect_ little beings I'm carrying inside me…they're _ours_!"

The guard came back in to check on them and she stopped, raising a questioning brow at the guard until he left. She helped Jack drink a little more water and eat a little. She kissed his forehead and said sorry so many times she lost count.

"Please, Jack…" she begged for the thousandth time. "Please…just _look _at me!" he still refused, so she looked into his mind. She didn't like what she found. "You think I did it because I wanted to…you think I _liked_ doing that?! Jack, you imbicile! I did it to stop them hurting you! I did it because _I love you_! I know you'll never see it that way…but, please! If you can ever find it within yourself to forgi-"

"Miss, The Master has requested your presence on the bridge." The guard stated loudly from the doorway.

"Good God, that man has the worst timing!" Mariah fumed, her voice became gentle again as she looked back at her chained husband. "I have to go…I know you…hate me, right now…but you have to know that I love you…I always have…and I always will. You hear me, Captain Jack Harkness? I will _always_ love _you_."

She tilted his head up and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before, tears rolling down her cheeks, she obeyed The Masters' command.

**...**

Jack watched her go, grief stricken. He knew why'd she'd done it. And he couldn't blame her really…he would've done the same if they were hurting her…he loved her for being brave and trying to help him in the only way she thought she could…

But The Master had defiled the woman he loved, and that was why he hadn't looked at her. He didn't want to see the bruises or the hollow eyes devoid of life and love. They would get out of here…_alive_. And when they did, he would do everything in his power to rid Mariah of this awful experience. He'd tell her he loved her every day, because she was perfect every day.

And nothing, not even _The Master _could stand in their way!

**...**

"Citizens of earth, 'rejoice and observe." The Master raised his arms theatrically to the cameras briefly before turning to Martha. "Your teleport device. In case you thought I'd forgotten." Mariah watched on furiously as Martha threw Jack's teleport device to The Master, restrained by two guards. "And now." He paused momentarily for effect. "Kneel. Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Set to burn across the universe." He turned towards another monitor, speaking to The Spheres. "Are we ready?"

_'The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!' _The Spheres replied.

"Three minutes to align the Black Hole Convertors! Counting down!" The Master pointed a remote at the wall behind him and grinned. "I never could resist a ticking clock! My children! Are you ready?"

'_We will fly and blaze and slice! We will fly and blaze and slice!_' The Spheres replied harmoniously.

The Master continued. "At zero, to mark this day, the child, Martha Jones, will die. My first blood.  
Any last words?" he asked Martha, but she just stared at the floor. "No? Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Time Vortex! This one's useless!" he continued to taunt his captives. He pointed his laser screwdriver at Martha. "Bow your head." As she conceded, The Master continued. "And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish, from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward," Martha laughed quietly and, with a look akin to confusion and irritation, The Master spoke to her. "What…What's so funny?"

Mariah looked into her friends', Martha's, mind…and smiled as Martha spoke. "A gun?"

"What about it?" The Master asked, ever more irritated.

"A gun, in four parts?" Martha continued to smile as she questioned his gullibility.

"Yes, and I destroyed it." The Master very nearly growled.

"A gun, in four parts, scattered across the world I mean! Did you really believe that?!" Martha scoffed.

"What do you mean?" The Master asked, genuinely worried now, eyes snapping towards The Doctor.

"As if I would ask her to kill." The Doctor's hands wrapped around the bars of his small cage.

"Oh Well! It does not matter, because I have her exactly where I want her." The Master snarled.

"But I knew what Professor Doherty would do. The resistance, knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she'd get me here… At the right time."

The Master laughed menacingly. "You're still gonna die."

"Don't you want to know what I was doing?" Martha asked incredulously, shrugging slightly.

"Tell me." The Master sighed.

"I told a story." Martha smiled sweetly. "That's all. No weapons, just words. I did what the Doctor said. I went across the continents. And everywhere I went, I found the people. And I told them my story." She paused briefly, remembering. "I told them about the Doctor. I told them to pass it on.  
So everyone would know about the Doctor."

"Faith and hope? Is that all?" The Master mocked.

"No, I gave them an instruction. As the Doctor said." Martha continued, looking to Mariah.

"Use the countdown." Mariah smirked, eyes full of admiration as she looked at The Doctor.

"I told them if everyone thinks of one word at one time…" Martha trailed off, voice full of conviction.

"Nothing will happen! Is that your weapon? Prayer?!" The Master jeered.

Mariah looked to Jack and, for the first time in a year, he looked at her. She mouthed, _'It's in the phones…the satellites…'_

"Right across the world. One word, just one thought, at one moment…" Martha paused. "But with 15 satellites!"

"What?" The Master's expression turned to one of concern mixed with disbelief.

"The Archangel Network…" Jack murmured, looking from Mariah to The Master.

"A telepathic field binding the human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth…thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is… 'Doctor'."

The air around The Doctor began to glow. "Stop it." The cage bars fell away and The Doctors figure rejuvenated from its aged form. "No, no, no, no, you don't Doctor!"

Mariah closed her eyes. "Doctor."

"Doc-" The Master stopped himself, looking around at everyone on the Valiant.

Jack looked at Mariah. "Doctor.

"Stop this right now!" The Master yelled as they all chanted 'Doctor'. "Stop it!"

And The Doctor spoke. "I've had a year to tune into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices." The Master began to back away from The Doctor's floating form. "The one thing you can't do… is stop them thinking." The energy surrounding him glowed brighter. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."

"No!" The Master fired his laser screwdriver at The Doctor to no avail.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said softly, voice firm. "I'm so sorry."

"Then I'll kill THEM!" the Master cried, pointing the laser at the others on the Valiant; but The Doctor stopped him with a mere gesture of his hand. "You can't do this! You can't do this! It's not fair!"

"And you know what happens now." The Doctor continued.

The Master backed away, cowering against the wall. "No! No! No! No! No!"

"You wouldn't listen." The Doctor stated blankly.

"No!" The Master's voice quietened a little as he cowered.

" Because you know what I'm going to say." The Doctor floated down to crouch beside The Master's cowering form and held him. "I forgive you."

"My children!" The Master's head snapped up looking first to the monitor showing the spheres and then to Mariah as the Spheres voices were heard descending upon them all. _'Protect the Paradox! Protect the Paradox! Protect the Paradox!'_

The Doctor and The Master Teleported away; leaving behind bewildered guards. Jack got himself free of the two holding him and nicked a gun from them. He pointed it towards Mariah's captors. "Let her go!" he yelled, several of the other guards siding with him now. "I said 'Let her go'!"

The two guards keeping hold of her hesitantly let go of Mariah and, when she rushed into his arms, Jack held onto her as if his life depended on it. It was only a minute or two that passed but, whist The Doctor and The Master were missing everyone waited with baited breath, still terrified of the outcome of their disappearance.

When The Doctor and The Master reappeared, The Doctor yelled. "Captain! The Paradox Machine!"

Jack snapped into action. "You men! With me!" he ran his thumb across Mariah's cheek briefly. "You stay here."

Mariah nodded as he left and turned back to the situation at hand…

**...**

**Tell me what you think people! Please?! It really makes my day to hear from you!**


	9. The End of an Era

"Everyone! Get down! Time is reversing." The Doctor shouted. "The paradox is broken." The air swished around them all like a twister. The Doctor only getting up when it had all settled. "We've reverted back, one year and one day, two past eight in the morning." He turned a dial and they all listened intently._ 'This is UNIT Central, what's happened? We saw the President assassinated!'_ the doctor turned the dial again and the signal was gone. "After the President was killed, before the Spheres arrived. Planet Earth restored…It never happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."

"What about the Spheres?" Martha asked, concerned.

"Trapped at the end of the universe." The Doctor replied bluntly.

"But I can remember it." Martha seemed to be struggling with processing the information at hand.

"We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who'll ever know." The Doctor paused and greeted another person. "Oh, hello! You must be Mr Jones, we haven't actually met."

The Master made a run for it, getting to the lift door just as they opened, only to find Jack there ready to catch him. "Whoa, big fella. You don't want to miss the party." Jack held out a hand to a nearby guard. "Cuffs…" he handed him off to two guards and rushed into Mariah's arms, being able to hold her close again was like heaven to Jack. But the moment was short. Still holding his wife to him, he gazed loathingly at The Master; the source of all their pain. "So, what do we do with this one?"

"We kill him." Mr. Jones stated blankly.

"We execute him." Tish agreed.

"No, that's not the solution." The Doctor reasoned.

There was the click of a gun and all eyes fell on Mrs. Jones. "Oh, I think so. Cos all those things. They still happened. Because of him. I saw them…"

"Go on!" The Master taunted her, casting a quick glance at Mariah. "Do it!"

"You're better than him." The Doctor said gently, taking the gun from Mrs. Jones as she allowed him to pull her against his chest and then be comforted by her family.

"You still haven't answered the question." The Master reminded The Doctor. "What happens to me?"

"You're my responsibility, from now on. The only other Time Lord left in existence." The Doctor looked him up and down carefully.

"Yeah, but you can't trust him." Martha put it.

"No." the Doctor agreed. "The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."

"You mean you're just gonna…keep me?" The Master's lip curled

"Mm. If that's what I have to do." The Doctor nodded. "It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering for too long. Now, I've got someone to care for."

Everyone jumped, then froze, as a gunshot rang through the room and The Master fell.

"Put it down!" Jack yelled at the Master's wife as he took the gun from her, handing it to Mariah.

The Doctor held The Master in his arms. "There you go I've got you, I've got you."

The Master smiled sarcastically through a wince. "Always, the women."

"I didn't see her." The Doctor apologised.

"Dying in your arms." The Master looked up at the Doctor. "Happy now?"

"You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate." The Doctor half reasoned, half pleaded.

"No." the Master's tone was blank.

"One little bullet, come on." The Doctor ordered now.

"I guess you don't know me so well." The Master's eyes widened and he smiled triumphantly. "I refuse."

"Regenerate, just regenerate, please, please just regenerate, come on!" the Doctor was nearly in tears.

"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?" the Master sneered.

"But you've got to! Come on! It can't end like this! You and me! All the things we've done. Axons! Remember the Axons, and the Daleks. We're the only two left. And no-one else. Regenerate!"

"How about that? I win." The Master grinned in victory. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming? Will it stop?" and, with a final breath, the Master was no more.


	10. Homecoming

Martha looked out over Cardiff Bay. "Time was, every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you."

"Good." The Doctor nodded.

They both saw Jack look towards the Millennium Fountain, at his wife, smiling and waving once more. "Back to work." He said and jumped the railing they'd been leaning against.

"I really don't mind, though." The Doctor smiled at him and then at Mariah, waiting for Jack. "Come with me… both of you."

"Had plenty of time to think, that past year. The year that never was." Jack looked down and then back at Mariah. "And I kept thinking about her…about what he made her do to protect me…even when he found out she couldn't bare him a child…"

"Why was that?" Martha asked.

"Because," Jack smiled a little. "She was already pregnant with mine." He now smiled broadly, and proudly. "Like you said, Doctor. Responsibility. I have a chance to set things right now, for her."

"Defending the Earth." They all heard Mariah's voice in their minds and looked at her, giving them each a cheeky wink and a smile.

"Can't argue with that." Jack grinned, jumping a moment later as the Doctor grabbed his arm. "Hey, I need that!"

"I can't have you walking round with a time-travelling teleport, you could go anywhere." The Doctor paused, a slight warning look passed between the two men. "Twice. The second time to apologise."

"And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?" Jack inquired hopefully.

"Nothing I can do." The Doctor replied with a half-smile. "You're an impossible thing, Jack."

Jack laughed. "Been called that before." He saluted his two companions. "Sir. Ma'am." He winked at Martha, took two steps away and turned back. "But I keep wondering, what about ageing? Cos I can't die, but I keep getting older, the odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"

"I really don't know." The Doctor half laughed.

"Okay," Jack chuckled softly. "Vanity, sorry, yeah. Can't help it. Used to be a poster boy! When I was a kid, living in the Boeshane Peninsula, tiny little place, I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me." The Doctor nodded at Jack as he made up his mind. "The Face of Boe, they called me."

With an overjoyed smile, Jack bounded away from the Doctor and Martha and back into the arms of his beloved – and probably as immortal as he was – half Time Lord wife.

_**Finis'**_


End file.
